K9 Jojo died after choking on an object that became accidentally lodged in his throat while he and his handler were conducting a search of a warehouse.

In his attempt to dislodge the object, his handler's right pinky finger was amputated.

K9 Jojo was a the agency's explosives detecting canine and had assisted searching for explosive devices for over 10 hours straight following the terrorist attack in San Bernardino on December 2nd, 2015.

Jojo had served with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department for three years.

Most Recent Reflection

It's an absolute terrible thing, it truly is. One moment, you're both involved in something routine and in a single second, not only does one of the worst possible things happen but it's something the farthest away from what you would ever expect. Then, as if that wasn't enough, you end up losing a finger during such a desperate attempt. Terrible, is the only way to discribe the entire incident and it happens to be something that I'm familiar with only I was totally helpless when my dog fell into a raging river. I almost killed myself on the rugged shore trying to run after her until I finally lost sight and never found her. Both of these stories are very heart felt for me and I want to say that I'm so very sorry.